Poland’s minister of defense has announced plans to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles for future submarines. With the conflict in neighboring Ukraine as a pretext, Warsaw is actively modernizing its armed forces with a focus on purchasing first-strike weapons.

Warsaw is ready to buy SLCM (Submarine-launched cruise missile)
version of long-range Tomahawk missiles either directly from the
US or from any other country ready to assist, Defense Minister
Tomasz Siemoniak told Polish radio on Thursday.

“One of the capabilities we want [the submarines] to have is
cruise missiles,” Reuters cited Siemoniak’s aired statement,
following a report by national Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.

"Last year, I decided that Polish vessels should be able [to
launch cruise missiles] and we are speaking to all those able to
deliver this type of weapon, including the Americans," he
said.

Poland is considering buying three submarines to enter service
till 2030.

Minister Siemoniak also informed that in 2015 some 10,000 NATO
soldiers will take part in military drills in Poland, about half
of them servicemen belonging to the international NATO
quick-reaction task-force Spearhead, the newly-created NATO
quick-reaction force.

After the beginning of bloody conflict in Ukraine in spring of
2014, Poland adopted an unprecedented 10-year spending program
worth some €33.6 billion to modernize its armed forces. The list
of military purchase includes air defense systems, 70 multi-role
helicopters worth €2.5 billion, APCs, combat drones and three
submarines, AFP reported.

In September 2014, the US State Department gave the green light
to a $500 million arms deal with Poland, including the sale of 40
advanced JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles) cruise
missiles and upgrades to their F-16 fighter jets to these
missiles.

JASSMs are composite-body semi-stealth long-range cruise
missiles, ideal to inflict a preemptive strike. The
submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles Warsaw wants are also a
definitely first strike weapon.

Warsaw’s search for new submarines began even before the
developments in Ukraine. In 2013, Poland considered buying
Germany’s most advanced diesel-electric type U-212A submarines,
but no deal was reached in the end, as Poland changed its mind
and suggested leasing two 212’s as an option, reported the
Local in 2013.

The news about Poland arming its future subs with Tomahawk SLCM
missiles strikingly resembles news coming from Israel in recent
years, about Tel Aviv beefing up its submarine fleet and arming
it with Popeye SLCM missiles.

Over the last 15 years Israel has obtained from Germany six
state-of-the-art Dolphin and Dolphin 2 class submarines armed
with torpedoes and Popeye SLCM cruise missiles, with a range of
up to 1,500km, allegedly capable of carrying nuclear warheads.